I first learned when I tore a computer down, some how I knew the terms south bridge and north bridge at 11.... And I guessed the chips on the mobo, but anyways, a nice book, and an older PC 3-6 years old to tear down would be very helpful in the hardware stages of learning, to learn software, the easiest way is to mess around in Linux or Windows, which ever OS is on the machine.

your friend is rather ambitious. I learned all the things i know threw experience. I never read any books, or guide's online (except for my first build, i had to look at a guide a few times to see if i was doing everything right.) just figured it out on my own.

he asked if he needs to have drawing skills, stuff related to art, etc. for graphics, photoshop, etc..

Definitely he needs! I didn't 2 years ago so my graphics suck3d and I had to practice on sketching a little bit. ABout photoshop there's no need to do have drawing skills talking about photomanipulations and no photoshop based graphics.

P.S General Computing won't help him to find a good job. For example he could be an IT teacher who needs to know hardware, software particularly Microsoft Office and open Office in an expert level, a network specialist who needs to know everything about networks and protocols, a graphic designer (I want to be one) who needs to know Adobe\Xara\Corel programs and be good at sketching, a web designer who needs to know how to use programs Like dreamweaver, flash, coding with javascript, silverlight and have some general programming knowledge, a programmer who needs to know programming in various programming languages, an assistant on a computer shop who needs to know hardware and software. There are so many types of IT jobs. You can't just seek for a well-paid job with general knowledge of IT, plus you need certificates.